PLU women’s basketball open up Northwest Conference play with loss to Pacific

Despite a strong rally in the second half, the Pacific Lutheran women fell short to Pacific, 56-51, on Friday night at Names Family Court in the opener of the Northwest Conference for both teams.

“I think both teams are very evenly matched,” Lutes coach Jennifer Childress said. “It really did come down to a couple of bounces one way or another and a couple calls one way or another. I’m really proud of the Lutes and how we came out and battled the entire game. We tried some things tonight that we haven’t tried in the past and were able to execute.”

Pacific Lutheran (3-7, 0-1 NWC) found itself in an eight-point deficit just four minutes into the game and trailed by 12 with 31/2 minutes remaining in the first half.

The Lutes persevered and gained their first lead of the game with 7:03 to go at 41-40. Leading the charge was junior Megan Abdo, who had a team-high 16 points and 3 steals.

Pacific Lutheran managed to get its lead to three, but it was short lived as the Boxers (5-5, 1-0) spurted to a 16-8 run to close out the final seven minutes and see off the home team.

“With our youth, we’re going to continue to grow,” Childress said. “We did make a good run for it and show some perseverance and fight in the young players. Then it comes down to (having) that experience and game knowledge to be able to make the right choices and finish a close game like this. Every game for us is a learning experience. I think if we play this game four or five games down the road, we would get the win. I’m really proud of the improvement I’m seeing in this team. We just have to keep persevering.”

The next chance for the Lutes will come on Friday, when Childress’ squad will travel to Newberg, Oregon, to play George Fox University.

Gig Harbor native Taylor Talen finished with five points, eight rebounds and Bellarmine Prep grad Madis Green-Hayward finished with four rebounds and one steal for the Lutes.

Foreman, a Bellevue native, went 5 of 9 shooting from the field and also had three steals as PLU shot 10 of 15 from the free throw stripe and 6 of 11 from 3-point range.

Federal Way grad Terrell Williams chipped in seven points and had one steal and Fife grad Kevin McCrossin scored three points and had one steal for Pacific Lutheran.

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